This weekend I experienced something that I haven’t done for a year and it was great! I went to the grocery store, albeit with masks and polite social distancing, and we had dinner inside at my parents house (all vaccinated). I know it sounds strange to be excited about a grocery store but the last time I was there was March 2020 and many shelves were bare and/or or there were restrictions on quantities. The only down side was ordering on-line protects against impulse purchases :)
Another taste on normal is a vacation trip we have planned for next week - on Friday we are flying to Merida! The purpose of the trip is to sign some real estate paperwork but we thought we would spend a few days and also celebrate our wedding anniversary there.
A vacation and a glimpse of normal but still not normal.
A prerequisite was to get vaccinated. This did seem like it was going to happen and we had actually cancelled a previous flight we had purchased. I had already been vaccinated for medical reasons but my wife, as she puts it, is young and healthy so expecting a longer wait for her time to get the jab. However she volunteered at one of the public vaccination sites and they had some spare shots left and she was one of the lucky selected. (Note: United has waived all change fees for tickets purchased through the end of March BUT that’s different than airline credits. Instead you can exchange the flight for another flight and pay the difference if the flight costs more. But if the flight costs less there is no refund for the difference (for example if we exchanged our $260 tickets to Mexico for a $120 ticket to Colorado you would forfeit the $140 difference).
The flight was a bit of a challenge. The route from Houston to Merida use to be a daily flight but it appeared that United, started cancelling some days so instead of a long weekend with a mid week flight we are going weekend to weekend. (Note: As of writing this a long weekend flight in May (May 14-17th) direct from IAH to MID is $609. But if we fly from our local airport in Austin to IAH to MID the cost is $240.)
There will be (welcome) restrictions in Merida. There is an evening curfew at 11pm, restaurants are at 50% capacity, some events are canceled, Ubers & taxis have to drive with windows down and masks are required. Plus we are restricting ourselves to only outdoor seating at restaurants.
I’ve added KN95 and travel size purell to my packing list and we are excited for a glimpse next week!
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